Soil Vs. Hydroponics (Water Edition)

This is a series of alternative and traditional gardening.

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have challenging soil, which should be periodically amended and limed. The easy ways of gardening simply don’t work here. However, without spending too much money, you could build soil out of cellulose found in the house (junk mail, newspapers, phonebooks, etc.) which adds a significant amount of C in the form of hydrocarbons. Also, kitchen scraps, either composted orvermi-composted, which adds N, and some K (potassium)—especially banana peels. Therefore what are left are the vital minerals of plant growth, and you simply need to lime the soil at the end of the year.

However, if you think about the water required in traditional gardens, you’re spending a lot of money, not to mention the environmental impact after a bad snow-pack. So, what is there to remedy this situation? Well, a few things.

1. A true rain garden. A true rain garden is one that does not require watering, and depending on the plant, it could either succeed or fail based on some weather patterns is summer. This is doable, but you’ll need to get rid of your tomatoes, basil plants, greens (until the fall), any water sensitive plant, etc. The benefits of such a garden are the use and knowledge of local plants and local strains. “We” here at “blackberries are for picking” talk about local plants often—most of them “we” like to eat. Our favorite plants can be found in nature. Some of “our” favorite greens come from local places, like the invasive dandelion green, or the local “miners lettuce”. Anyways, you can always alter the topography of the land you have (urban gardening will be discussed later) to better suit some non-native plant’s needs.

2. Amend the soil with compost and other water retaining material. Compost can hold water effectively, although it’s not the best at it. Other water retainers include, peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, hydroton (as a soil cover), coconut coir, and other materials. This is a quick fix and should be integrated with a true rain garden if given the chance. This is a bit more expensive than not dealing with water intensive plants altogether, but more satisfying.

3. Add a bog. This may sound a bit on the strange side, but having runoff go to help water intensive plants is a good idea. The major downside is if mosquitos decide to make it a breeding ground. So, I’d encourage this away from the home, if possible. A trench may suffice in certain conditions.

4. Stop using soil. What if I told you that you could have a system that used 70% less water ⁽¹⁾ than you were using before? Would you believe me? Well, hydroponics does just that, due to the reusing of water. You may know hydroponics through the local news channels, which I might add, are not afraid to smear, or make up, something for ratings. This should not be news, or a good pun. The local news stations actually go out of their way to equate cannabis growing with hydroponics. Hydroponics is not for cannabis. Hydroponics has been around since 1699, when some introverted rich guy* named John Woodward invented it to find what plants needed to survive. Hydroponics is simply: the culture of plants, with added nutrients, in a soilless medium. Since hydroponics is in a contained system, the water can stick around or be recycled. This allows for more efficient use of water. The only loss of water is rare evaporation and transpiration. Therefore, the need to water every day is not present. The only time water is egregiously lost is when you dump out the nutrients, when they get out of balance. (See aquaponics/organic hydroponics for a better solution.) Furthermore, all the plants you enjoy, you can also enjoy in hydroponics.

All sorts of reasons exist for using hydroponics, from higher yield ⁽¹⁾ to a smaller footprint. In the case of water usage, hydroponics wins.

*If you think about it, this is where most scientific progress happens—some introverted person exploring what they think is cool.

Organic Hydroponics

This is a reference for the strange world of organic hydroponics.

Organic is the growing of food in an environmentally friendly way, by using plant based pesticides (etc.), animal or compost based fertilizers, and other regulated uses of the term. However, one use of the term that is regulated is the use of a soil medium as the only acceptable medium for a USDA Organic certification. Hydroponics is the culture of plants in a soilless medium. Thus the phrase “organic hydroponics” can be labeled an oxymoron. Though the U.S. Government treats any hydroponics as unallowable for organic production, some organizations, like Oregon Tilth, have deemed some aquaponic (refer to the previous post—aquaponics reference) culture as organic by their certification standards. (Friendly Aquaponics got one of the certifications.) So, the idea of “organic hydroponics” need not be a contradiction to some members of the gardening community.

Considering the benefits of hydroponics, less water usage (due to being a contained system) and higher yield (due to having the correct conditions for a plant at one time, allowing root growth to be dwarfed by vegetative growth) hydroponics is good for the environment as a whole. Traditional salts based hydroponics actually is better for the environment than any conventional farm in existence, because of fewer pesticides, no heavy machinery, a lower footprint, due to higher yields, and less water usage. Organic hydroponics takes salt based hydroponics one step further. In organic hydroponics, the medium mimics soil, with different organisms and organic matter. Organisms colonize the system, just as they would in soil. Some are introduced in some forms of organic hydroponics, such as worms.

Different forms of organic hydroponics serve different purposes. Here is the list of possible configurations and nutrient sources:

1. . Organic nutrients. This system is simply putting nutrients, such as worm tea, into a system. This is the simplest form.
2. . Vermi-ponics. This system is where worms live in the system and feed off of organic matter you introduce. The intricacies of this system cannot be understated. As I have never attempted such a system, I can only link to other explanations.
3. . Bacterial. This system uses bacteria to convert unusable nutrients to available nutrients for various plants. This is used in many other types of systems such as aquaponics.
4. . Pee-ponics (humonia etc.). This is by far the most controversial type of hydroponics. It involves taking STERILE human urine and adding it to a recirculating system with nitrifying bacteria to convert NH₄⁺ into NO₃^- for plants to use. Like bacterial it uses bacteria to use this source of N and P. It is advised to not use this method if you’re taking any serious medication and/or you use tobacco and/or alcohol on a regular basis. If you do, you can simply grow ornamental plants.

Traditional hydroponics growers, who have TDS and EC meters, will have to convert the readings for organic hydroponics (as it takes time for some resources to be liberated for plant use). The General Hydroponics Guide to Organic Hydroponics is here for your questions.

Some of the experienced growers might want to chime in.

Aquaponics Reference

This is a "research paper" I wrote.

Aquaponics: An Organic Balance.

"Aquaponics is the cultivation of fish and plants together in a constructed, re-circulating ecosystem utilizing natural bacterial cycles to convert fish wastes to plant nutrient”—to clean the water for the fish. (“What is Aquaponics” by Sylvia Bernstein, president of TheAquaponicSource, and contributions from community members on aquaponicscommunity.com--now community.theaquaponicsource.com)

Aquaponics is the integration of aquaculture, the growing of aquatic animals (mostly fish), and hydroponics, the soilless growing of plants through specific nutrients and water. Aquaponics works by utilizing the nitrogen cycle, the conversion of ammonuim and ammonia, in equilibrium with each other,   NH₄⁺ and NH3 respectively, to nitrate, NO₃^- . The conversion works by nitrifying bacteria, nitrosomonas and nitrobacter, converting Ammonium, produced by fish through their gills, into nitrite, and nitrite into nitrate. The plants use this nitrate as fertilizer, as well as, micronutrients found in the fish waste to clean the water to the fish; if any of these gets to high, stress or death may occur, a 1/3 water change will then be required. This is a recirculating method, aquaponics, though efficient and organic, requires significant energy. Solid matter excreted from the fish needs further processing in order to keep the macronutrients and micronutrients in the system. Composting red worms helps the degradation process of organic matter, like in soil, thus adding the nutrients back into the system without supplemental care. Aquaponics is completely organic; the use of chemicals would harm the fish and bacteria needed for a balanced ecosystem.

There are 4 basic types of aquaponic grow-bed design: (1) media based, these are found to have higher filtration capacities by many formal and informal studies; (2) deep-water-culture beds, they are separate beds where Styrofoam is used to keep plants stable, solids removal is necessary and shrimp can do this well; (3) NFT (nutrient film technique), a process of water going through pipes or gutters to provide nutrients for the plants, though common in hydroponic farms NFT has been deemed by many to be ineffective alone in aquaponics (read about Dr. Lennerd's foray into NFT Aquaponics and its success) ; and four, passive, these are simple floatation devices, often Styrofoam that sit atop the fish tank, plant roots collect solids and die unless a useful polyculture is created. The Mixed systems have at least two of the systems described here integrated; the systems we will be using are mixed. (NFT and Media) The key word for NFT is that alone it may be ineffective, but given adequate settings is more space efficient than media or deep-water-culture. A combination of media and NFT is the zip-grow tower, the zip-grow tower is filled with media and water flows through it, it’s hung for greater efficiency. Our systems need to be space efficient, so the filtration of media is combined with the space-efficiency of NFT thus insuring a bountiful harvest. “Most AP designs are expansive. I wanted to look at working in a small footprint. Gravel beds are very versatile filters, and as time has shown, simple and effective NFT / raft beds have shown to be highly productive, often more so than gravel beds according to some authors.” (Kobus Jooste of aquaponic gardening)*

However one “hot topic” on the minds of all who do aquaponics, where do the systems get Ammonium from? Most aquaponic systems use fish feed but, a plethora of options are useful for omnivorous fish species, like tilapia. Carey Ma*: “I started out many years ago raising Fancy Guppies and Siamese Fighting fish and supplemented their flake diet with mosquito larva I raised in a tank on the side. Live food always seems to perk them up so I have continued this practice to this day. Today I have a 10 x 20 “bug shed” attached to one of the greenhouses, raising crickets, red wigglers, meal worms, mosquito larva, grubs and black solider fly larva for my chickens and fish as both live and pellet(ed) feed.” (emphasis mine) *these are well respected people in the aquaponics community (community.theaquaponicsource.com formerly aquaponicscommunity.com): Carey has been using aquaponics since the 1970’s and Kobus is in academia. Obviously this is a big operation, so why do many people take great care in what their fish eat? Pellet fish-feed is expensive on both the wallet and environment. In addition the ultimate goal for the average aquaponic gardener is sustainability or at least highly efficient integrated systems. Pellet feed for tilapia is derived from fishmeal and binding starches, much effort has been given in making a suitable aquaculture feeds for many fish. Other options include duckweed, possibly derived from extra toxic ammonia, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), which are avid composters, and scraps from the garden or kitchen. Duckweed: there has been an explosion in duckweed production, for feeding fish, since the explosion in integrated systems as a whole. “It is winter now thus I am expecting that warming temperatures may push the ammonia content of the water up to the critical 2 mg/L TAN that I am looking for as an upper carrying capacity indicator, but presently it is rock steady at 0.25 or lower, suggesting that just about all the Ammonia produced by the 55 fish in the system is absorbed daily.” (Kobus Jooste) The quote refers to a system comprised of fish and duckweed. Though not aquaponics, it can be integrated with aquaponics. BSFL are also important to feeding fish as they are high in proteins and lipids. Though not a nutrition source on their own on account of their lipid content; BSFL are useful for encouraging quick growth.

Fish and plants require special care if a successful crop is to be created; protection from disease, pests, lack of nutrition, overabundance of needed minerals, and “weather conditions” needs to be a top priority of any grower, especially a self-contained system like a greenhouse. Dealing with fish disease is one of the most important parts of aquaculture. In aquaculture, high densities of fish cause disease to spread like wildfire. The dense stocking of fish also causes stress and the result is varied from stunted growth, due to changed eating habits, to death. This is also due to fighting; fighting can ruin a crop of lucrative fish. Dense stockings also produce large amounts of ammonia and organic matter, the fish do not respond well to swimming in their own waste. When ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate levels are to high the fish die, due to poisoning. Therefore in an integrated system balance should be the first precaution. If the problem persists check to see if overcrowding is an issue. The best advice for that is to eat more fish. If fish seem stressed check the water quality.

The most common pest, for plants, is aphids. Aphids are used by ants as a nutrition source, farming, in such the same way as cows are for humans. Aphids cling to the stems of the plant, or graze, and make their way to the upper part of the plant, this stunts growth. To contain aphids a grower must: look for signs of stress on plants, look for the aphids themselves, and take action. Actions may include spraying them with a soap type product, destroying the membrane that allows aphids to live. Picking aphids of the plant and killing them in any way you see fit. As well as, dunking a plant into the fish tank, though try not to destroy the root system.

Mineral deficiencies are when plants don’t have the required nutrition to function. Common deficiencies are, iron, Fe, magnesium, Mg, Potassium, K, Calcium, Ca, and Phosphorus, P.

	Dryness	Wilting	Discoloration	Spots
Fe			Yellowing
Ca		Yes
Mg			Gray Sheen
P				Yes
K	Mature Leaves

There are many signs yet some are harder to recognize than others, so a good knowledge of plants is recommended but not needed.

An overabundance of minerals can have harmful effects on plants in soil, but the fish will be hurt first in an aquaponics system. Overabundances can occur when hydroponic nutrients are added to the system, the biofilter is damaged, or more likely the grower has fed the fish far too much of one thing, or all things. When you, as in the reader, add too much food into the system the uneaten food will rot or the fish will become sick from eating too much, though the fish will be sick if ammonia is in abundance. The rotten food adds unneeded ammonia into the system as well as potential pathogens and a sink in oxygen due to decomposition. A good rule is if the food is not eaten by five minutes do not feed the fish anymore. If too much food is given I would suggest adding a water plant, such as duckweed, to the system; this also gives the fish extra oxygen to breathe. Plants are not the first to respond to overabundance so they could be overlooked for the average gardener.

Weather conditions are humidity, heat and ventilation, for plants. Ventilation is adequate in the greenhouse and water is flowed through the system, providing moisture. The conditions conducive to plants are nearly the same as fish being used. “The best temperature for tilapia is they do best in “70-88f, with 77-84 typically being the sweet spot for fastest growth.” (Hatchery Manager of White Brook Tilapia Farm)

How and what plants are grown is another important issue that growers face. The cheapest seeding method in use for media based systems is simply sticking them in the media, on the water line. There are other types of seed starting. One such is media plugs, commonly used in non-media based systems such as deep-water-culture and NFT. Plants that are successful with aquaponics are anything from water-cress to papaya. So as long as a media bed is mature you can grow a fruit tree, which is the consensus in the newly emerged informal research, though it is in need of further study. However a single lettuce plant uses fewer nutrients than an entire tomato bush, so that should be in consideration.

How the plants/fish are grown, what can be grown, and to what degree they can be grown, is largely dependent on water quality. Water quality in aquaponics is most defined by dissolved oxygen, nitrate levels, nitrite levels, ammonia levels, pH, and minerals present. A common measurement for aquaponics is ppm. PPM is literally parts, the thing measured, per million. In nitrate testing kits the ppm is set to a pigment and the pigment can be used alone. Nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia/ammonium are measured in ppm (g/L). Testing for the nitrogen in the system may only require a nitrate test kit and careful observation. Dissolved oxygen is important because both the plants and fish need oxygen for respiration. Fish gasping for air is a good indication that DO levels are too low. In fact, too good, the fish’s respiratory system is in danger at this point. pH is -log of the H ion or how many hydrogen ions there are in matter. The scale is 0 to 14, where below seven is acid and above seven is alkaline (basic). It should be noted that 6 is much more acidic than 6.8. A good pH for aquaponics is about 6-7 while, roughly, a pH above 7.2 will lock out some nutrients, a pH in the 5’s will start to harm life, and a pH above 8 will kill most things, except the biofilter. A high pH should be corrected, slowly, with pH down or another acid, a low pH should be cured with a bag of seashells inserted into the system for a few hours, testing regularly should occur while this task is being done. (Adding strong bases is recommended if you have experience with it. Good strong bases include KOH, NaOH, Ca(OH)2, CaO, MgO and others. It depends on your experience with strong bases and cost. As for acids, a good strong acid is HCl, because the Cl ion will coat the fishes gills to prevent Nitrite and Nitrate ions from poisoning the fish, another good, strong acid is  Phosphoric Acid. Again, experience and cost will determine the acid that works best for you.) 

In addition to the nitrogen cycles effect on water quality a different bacteria type is an anaerobic bacteria, they are denitrifying as opposed to nitrifying. The environment in which they live are anaerobic environments, so maintenance may be required for all types of systems.

Chlorine is another important water quality issue, but should only be a problem if you leave the tap running all day. Reports of tilapia surviving this kind of catastrophe have been talked about. The best way to add tap water to an aquaponics system is to let it outgas before entering. Chlorine will leave the holding tank via evaporation and clean water is left, assuming the water doesn’t have other variables involved.

The benefits of aquaponics are astounding. Benefits of aquaponics are, less water usage, 2-10% less, it can be in a controlled environment, it can be implemented anywhere, and it doesn't abuse the depleted soil. However fossil fuels may come into play because of energy costs, but aquaponics uses significantly less fossil fuels than conventional farming. Tractors and fertilizer play a large role, transport is a problem too. Furthermore aquaponics has a significantly less foot print, so the efficiency is high. Aquaponics has been considered by many to be useful for their purposes and in a recession a low cost alternative to “healthy” foods are needed. A combination of soil and soilless can achieve low costs needed for the economics of systems.

Considering the benefits the basic things a person needs to build a system are H₂O pump(s), an O₂ pump, airstones, container for fish (barrel), container for media (recycled materials), media(pea gravel), plastic tubing, and adjustments (the fish and plants are required too). This is a barrelponics system, invented by Travis Hughey.

Native Berries (Part 1)

In this series we will explore the native berries of the Pacific Northwest.

Here in the Northwest there are many berries to choose from: from the thorn-filled blackberries, to the delicate Salmon Berry, but one berry beats them all to the punch: the Huckleberry. These berries come in two varieties, red and purple (which look oddly like a blueberry). The main difference between them is color. The berries of the purple huckleberries look like this:

Notice the leaves; they are the first indicator of it being in the Huckleberry-Blueberry Family.

Also, since it looks like a blueberry it should be in the family (if other requirements are fulfilled). Red Huckleberries look like this:

This plant was loaded with them.

Since the leaves look similar to the other leaves we can assume they are related. These berries were good tasting, but a bit sour to some. The way to combat this “sourness” is with a good roasting. Assuming you’re out camping or something like that, you can put these on sticks, coat-hangers, and "fancy-metal-jabbing-sticking-implements" like a marshmallow, and stick it in the fire for a good 10 seconds. This allows the sugars to caramelize and give you a good huckleberry experience. Personally, the sour taste of the Huckleberry is appealing, since it becomes sweet after a while, but to each its own.

Since most people have never seen a huckleberry, it is safe to assume you can find them everywhere in their native environment. Therefore these wonderful berries are ripe for the taking in the various parks and woodlands here in the Pacific Northwest. Huckleberry season coincides with Native Blackberry and Salmon Berry season, which is good, because of the different flavors involved. This takes place in the window of about a month, between mid-June through mid-July. This sets up the season of Blackberries and Salal Berries. A bit of facts for the Huckleberry: the huckleberry was an important staple of the Native Peoples (I know that sounded a bit white, but well…) and settlers who picked gallons of them for the commercial canning industry⁽¹⁾. The Northwestern Huckleberries are all part of the Vaccinium Genus ⁽¹⁾. As said before they also have never been cultivated commercially, but it has been tried for the past century (2).

Huckleberries are one of the best tasting berries native to here, but it is a bit challenging to find them. Luckily, in the “urban” landscape of Seattle there is a park where I have seen these berries: Ravenna Park. Though the climb up and down the ravine might be a bit tough for some of us, the rest of us can celebrate the hike by eating, in the summer. Sure enough, the native huckleberries are there, if only in small numbers. Watch out non-native-blackberries, there’s an old berry coming back into style.

1 US. Forest Service

2 Northwest Berry and Grape Network (University of Washington, USDA, University of Idaho, and Oregon Sate University)

Links are also provided in the parenthetical citations. All other information is provided by the writer(s) of this post. Correct us if there are mistakes and we'll cross them out (literally--it's just a simple tag in html).

*Edit:  the nutritional information for the berry can be found here http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/7766?fg=American+Indian%2FAlaska+Native+Foods&man=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=25&sort=&qlookup=  . 

Blackberry Technique (For the Perfect Berry)

This is a short step-by-step guide that can be referred to by readers of this blog. (Ha, like there’s actually a reader.) Anyways:

1. Use the techniques used to find a blackberry patch/get to a good spot from the first post blackberry picking.

2. Find a cluster.

3. Hold the cluster with one hand below it, relative to when it’s held up.

4. Test the color of a blackberry.

5. If the color is green or red go back to step 4.

6. If the color is black, preferably a black-purple color, proceed to step 7.

7. Pinch the blackberry. If red is discovered anywhere on the blackberry go back to step 4.

8. Pinch the blackberry at multiple points.

9. If the blackberry is juicy, juice comes out of it or it is soft, then proceed to step 10.

10. Slowly twist the blackberry while holding it as tight as it can be without breaking the berry, so that the berry can be picked.

11. Examine the berry. If the berry is broken then proceed to step 11 as normal.

12. If the berry shows any abnormalities such as mold, or a dry shriveled pod, throw the blackberry away (or use a compost cup to make sure it doesn’t grow to be a weed.

13. If all of the steps are successful, eat the berry…I mean put it in the bin.

The blackberry is allowed to be slightly red for cobblers or pies and whatnot, but is generally accepted as not good for eating. Also, if one "pod" is slightly shriveled it is still good to eat, but an acquired taste.

Yes, that is it. Now go, and pick blackberries!

Picking Blackberries

Blackberries are the best berry in the Northwest (and all of North America) for its weed/taste duality. Blackberries creep and crawl along valleys, highway off-ramps, fields, and residential areas. The most common type of Blackberry here in the Pacific Northwest is the Himalayan Blackberry, which is not native. Though the native variety has a sweeter more reliable flavor (though they both are sweet) and is in season before it, the Himalayan Blackberry starts the Blackberry Season, in the Pacific Northwest, because of its prevalence and its ability to make “compact” bushes. The Native Blackberry by comparison rolls along the ground and occasionally makes vines in bushes—sometimes in other blackberry bushes. However, there is one more blackberry type in the Pacific Northwest—that is not native native, but still more prevalent than the native one: Evergreen Blackberries.

Because of the invasive species label the bush type blackberries have, it is best to eat as much as you can of them and in late September, when mold covers the Blackberries, you should cut down its stalks and pull up its medicinal roots*. Still, other berries in the Pacific Northwest that are native and have a great flavor like the Salmon Berry (which is real, mind you) comes at a similar time as the Native Blackberry and for Salmon Berries an acquired taste comes about for unripe berries. When the Salmon Berry is a pale orange color it should not be picked; it is much better to pick the Salmon Berry when it is red and juicy—then it is as sweet as any other respectful berry. (This next section is longer, so it is advised to skip the second part if you want to get back to the blackberries.)

Another great local berry is Salal Berries; it ripens at about August 20^th late July and continues to be ripe until the fall rains casts a mold effect. When ripened these berries have a purple-ish black color and it looks like a mini-black olive. To be sure it is this berry, if you’re a wild-food-phoebe; unfurl the berry so it looks like it has a grainy structure inside and tiny black seeds (these two are somewhat of a feature). The ultimate test is to eat it, and if it is sweet then it’s a go, if not, spit it out, take a picture of the plant and never eat from it again! (I would suggest using good picking techniques that we will talk about later in the blog.) Since, the berries form in clusters and it’s connected to a red-ish, sometimes sticky, branch you can rest assured that this is a Salal Berry and the wild-food-phobia should disappear. Another way to tell if the berry is a Salal Berry is if it once had white, bell-ish flowers on it in late spring and early summer—after that, it will have green berries on it.

Another Northwest Native is common in the temperate North America: the Huckleberry. In modern day it is mainly associated with the great Twain satire “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”—and it is a true wild berry, with a great sweet-and-sour flavor. The Huckleberry has never been domesticated, because of demanding environmental conditions needed to grow them. Though I’d like to grow these amazing berries they need: a (tree) stump and acid conditions, preferably 100 times greater acidity than most plants (pH of 4 as opposed to 6). You could try to grow them hydroponically, but that would be quite an investment. How about grow blueberries instead? Therefore, it is best to forage for them—hopefully with a trusted guide or book. Who’s working on the smartphone app.?

Since it’s necessary to stop the spread of non-native blackberries we should eat as much of them as possible. Now that’s some environmentalism I can get… um …eat behind! Here are the basics in order (mostly) of usefulness:

1. Know the places. This goes along with the adage “you are what you eat”. In essence, if you eat cyanide your body will contain cyanide, which causes cancer. So, even though those Blackberries off 90 at Factoria may look really good, it is because nobody wants to eat blackberries that are laced with lead and mercury from the gasoline (the brain damage package—now at Costco). Also, evading cars might be fun on a bicycle, but pedestrians cannot accelerate as quickly as a bicyclist can.
2. Know your blackberry. This goes along with the adage “Ow!—I just got cut by a mother%!@#ing blackberry thorn!” More likely than not, a person won’t put on sweatpants, a long-sleeve-tee-shirt, gloves, and shoes/boots with socks on an 80f degree day! Call me crazy, but I think most blackberry picking occurs on the perimeter of the bush when you’re out of breathe from running or bicycling, or just on a sunny day in a park or on a trail (Ha, just kidding there’s no sun today and I still picked them). So, chances are you’re in your crocs with short sleeves and shorts (or the equivalent) on your blackberry encounter. It is ok, this happens to me, too. Granted, I've been picking them so long I've become crazy, so minor scratches don’t bother me. However, if you’re, somehow, not like me then you do not want to “get scratched up”. Well, if you knew your favorite places then you could remember the little inlets and outlets to the center of the bush—where the best blackberries are. Even then, you could know where the younger section is—this can lead you to the center as well. Once you've cut a path, remember to take only how much you need, plus a bit more for “good luck”, I guess. However, “we” at “blackberries are for picking” will still want you to wear appropriate clothing while on your adventure.
3. “Dress for success”—or in better words: “Ow!—I just got cut by a thorn, and now it’s got my shirt—help. Oh (insert higher power/flying spaghetti monster here) I should have worn long-pants! Ahhh!” See, doesn’t that get the point across better than clichés? Well, if you’ve spent time tangling with blackberries you definitively get the point. If not, then here’s the attire that should accompany a good pick:shoes/boots, long-sleeve-tee-shirt (green for protection from the sun and stains), sweat pants (that are old or stained), and socks, definitely socks.
4. Containers, containers, containers—these are insanely important. Remember this: keep one bucket or large bowl, whatever, in your sight at all times, when exploring new areas keep a cup, or something like that, with you as a scouting container, and when the scouting cup is filled always put it in the larger container. The best type of cup is something that can fit in a pocket or clip on to something; this will allow two hands to search at once. A good thing to have instead, or in addition, is a lid—well, I’ll let you figure that one out.
5. Treading lightly is a thing of the past. If you have to stomp, do it. A very important part of the blackberry experience is making a path for others to follow, or finding your way back. One time, my trail was so successful (there were other people involved, too) that I found the source of the blackberry patch. The vines were nearly vertical in shape and they looked like they were in rows. That particular source was at my house, so that information is very useful. Remember, the vines may have thorns, but it’s not completely covered in thorns (now do you think I’m crazy). Well, the skill here is to bend the blackberry vine. Be wary of large vines, since they can hurt you more. (I’ll let you experience it before telling you all about the logistics, let’s say it can really bend.)
6. By now you’re in the hearth of the bush, so the next thing you need to know is an old rule of foraging: “if it’s too good to be true it probably is”—meaning that those ripe Salmon Berries might have stinging nettles in the way and you should probably not go pick them with shorts and sandals on, true story. (This happened two weeks ago.) So, if those are the ripest, easily reached blackberries that look so tasty you want to make them last for a thousand years, and you’re burning with the intensity of twenty quasars jetting a stream of high energy particles at one point and, and… well, you should probably look around before trampling over yourself and hurting like hell for twenty minutes, or more if you live east of the Cascades. In theory you could wear protective clothing for this, but there might be more hidden problems, so just look around.
7. Don’t be afraid of bugs. This is probably a bad piece of advice for the insect-phoebes’ and aracna-phoebes’ among us (I mean spiders are named after an arrogant weaver who challenged Athena, who wouldn’t be afraid of them?), but it should be noted that some bugs simply love the taste of blackberries, I say you can just drown them in water when you get home, and washing solves everything. If insecticide-less blackberries give you nightmares then how about you make a pie or cobbler to kill bad bacteria that are in such minute quantities that baking the berries for disease protection renders it moot. That should make you feel much better. Just, please feel free to eat a fresh blackberry, there’s no danger in it.
8. Eat it, just it, eat it, eat it, eat it!” (Weird Al reference, I think so.) If you don’t eat your blackberries and they sit in the refrigerator you’re going to have mold in two weeks or a bit less. So, if you can’t eat them all fresh, just freeze them, can them, or make things out of them. Much better than wasting space, I think.
9. Bring family and friends. The effort goes a lot smoother and quicker with a group. In fact, they can eat as much as they want and still never touch the surface. Therefore, you can get more gain without dealing with diminishing results, a win-win.
10. Share your spots with your friends. Even though this may seem counter-intuitive it is good for the Native Blackberry. With your help we can stop the invasive species from truly threatening the natives.

The next post will contain information on good picking technique, since it is "extremely" important.

*The blackberry roots have some medicinal value, helping diarrhea. Preparing it is just cutting them up and putting them in vodka for a few weeks to make medicine. The internet knows all.